First it was a best-selling novel, then a West End play. Now it's an acclaimed film. In a rare interview, Irvine Welsh, author of the phenomenal 'Trainspotting', talked to Kevin Macdonald about the journey from page to stage to screen

EVER since Erich Von Stroheim, cinema has grossed out on greed. Greed fed a whole avaricious genre: film noir, with its lust for money, lust for power and just plain lust. Von Stroheim's 1924 Greed is more topical than ever: it told of a friendshi p blown apart by the windfall of a lottery win. Many will read the new Brit- ish thriller Shallow Grave (18)

To Live (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 14 Aug). Zhang Yimou's latest is about stoicism and revolution, one man's resilience in the turmoil of China between the 1940s and the present day. With another luminous performance from Gong Li, Zhang's leading lady from Ju Dou onwards.